With the end of the Cold War, many believed that a new, more stable international legal order would emerge. But an enormous gap in values - most noticeably concerning armed intervention - has prevented that from happening. One group of nations continues to cling to the United Nations Charter's ban against intervention, while another group-led by NATO and the UN Security Council itself-openly violates that prohibition. In fact, the ban has been breached so often that it can no longer be regarded as authoritative. Whether the resulting legal vacuum can be filled is the overriding international question of the era.